Bob,
Correct. But perhaps a subtle point, did RTJ lengthen Oakland Hills, or just move the FW bunkers from 225 to 250 yards?
I don't think he did any re-routing or moved greens (although I know he extended many with "wings" to create harder pin positions, but I don't recall if he added new back tees, too.
Here is the blurb from the OHCC website:
1950: Robert Trent Jones is hired to modernize and strengthen the South Course. He narrows the fairways, eliminates bunkers that are out of play and adds new bunkers to squeeze the tee shot landing zones and the entryways to greens. The course goes from just under 90 bunkers to just over 120. On 15 he replaces the old fairway bunkers with one new one – in the dead center of the fairway driving zone. On 16 he nudges the green onto a new peninsula in the pond to create a more precarious approach shot. He reduces par on eight and 18 to 4 for tournament play. Most penal of all is the unintended consequence of over-seeding the ground around the new bunkers with rye grass to hold everything in place. The rye grows in fast and thick and stubbornly resists letting go of golf balls. In the process of this work, Jones invents the modern championship golf course. After Oakland Hills, Jones is hired to renovate Baltusrol (1952), Olympic (1954), Oak Hill (1956), Southern Hills (1957), and Winged Foot (1958), all in preparation for U. S. Opens. Jones becomes known as the “Open Doctor.”
1951: U. S. Open. Defending champion Ben Hogan shoots a 287 (76, 73, 71, 67) to win his third U. S. Open by two strokes. He calls his final round 67 the greatest of his career and calls Oakland Hills “the hardest course I’ve ever played.” At the award ceremony Hogan sums up his feelings with a few words that become more famous than any victory speech in the history of the U. S. Open: “I’m glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees.” Clayton Heafner is second with 289, Bobby Locke third with 291, and Lloyd Mangrum fourth with 293.
this is about the north course there in the 60's:
1968: In preparation for the ‘72 PGA (and to avoid member shanks off the eighth tee), Trent Jones redesigns the seventh hole in order to move the green rightwards. What was a relatively straight hole of 381 yards to a rolling green becomes a 408 yard dogleg right to a much more benign green.
1968-69: North Course once again becomes private second course for Oakland Hills and undergoes a major redesign and renovation by Trent Jones. First and ninth holes are reversed as are 15 and 16. Course goes from fewer than 20 bunkers to over 90, and from 6,300 yards to 6,668. An aluminum bridge (210 feet long, 11 feet wide, and weighing 40,000 pounds) is erected over Maple Road to connect South and North courses.
Sounds like it was still the club course, but thought to be a bit too easy. Was that RTJ or was that the members?
And into the 2000's back on the South Course:
2006: Rees Jones, Trent’s son, updates and toughens-up the South Course, repositioning many bunkers, enlarging the ponds on seven and 16 and building new tees to stretch the course to 7,445 yards.
I know Art Hills was in there in between, but the club history doesn't say much about it.